Piccolo mondo antico: an Italian graded reader at level C1
Antonio Fogazzaro · adapted by Alessio Insegnante · CEFR level C1
Antonio Fogazzaro's classic (1895), rewritten for learners of Italian at level C1: calibrated sentences, footnotes, a final glossary and comprehension questions in every chapter.
Ebook $4.99 · also in 6×9 paperback
Look inside: the first page
CAPITOLO 1
La villa di Cressogno
The Villa at Cressogno
Sul lago di Lugano, in una sera di settembre del 1852, la villa della marchesa Maironi aveva le persiane ancora chiuse. Cressogno, il paese in cui la villa sorgeva, era una piega tra due rive: pochi tetti, un campanile, e barche legate a un muro.1
La marchesa Orsola era arrivata due giorni prima da Brescia. Non l'aveva salutata nessuno, e nessuno se n'era offeso: si sapeva che lei preferiva così.
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Il salotto era stato preparato con cura: un tavolo tondo, quattro poltrone di velluto, un piccolo altare da viaggio in un angolo. La marchesa portava con sé, di villa in villa, il suo altarino: era il segno che dovunque andasse la religione veniva con lei.2
1 Cressogno esiste davvero: è una frazione di Valsolda, sulla riva orientale del lago. Fogazzaro c'era nato d'estate, e in età adulta ci tornava a scrivere. La geografia del romanzo è, per lui, la geografia di casa.
2 L'altare da viaggio era comune nell'aristocrazia cattolica dell'Ottocento: piccolo mobile pieghevole con crocifisso, candelieri e un servizio da messa. Segnalava che il proprietario poteva far celebrare messa in casa: un privilegio.
Chapter 1 · CEFR C1 · 22 words of the real textGet the book on Amazon ↗︎
The plot of Piccolo mondo antico
Valsolda, on Lake Lugano, in the years of Austrian rule. Franco Maironi marries Luisa against the wishes of his grandmother, the harsh Marchioness Orsola, who disinherits him. He is a believer and a dreamer, she is rational and hungry for justice: they love each other, but see the world with opposite eyes.
When sudden tragedy strikes their little daughter, that difference becomes an abyss. Between faith and reason, grief and the Risorgimento, Fogazzaro wrote one of the most intense and moving novels of the Italian nineteenth century.
Why read Piccolo mondo antico to learn Italian
Fogazzaro's prose is lyrical yet controlled: the ideal step before original nineteenth-century texts. The dialogues with dialect touches, explained in the footnotes, are a rare window onto Italian as it was really spoken.
Inside the glossary
Glossary
- Ceresio · Ceresio ((sin. Lago di Lugano, specchio d'acqua))
- Il nome antico del Lago di Lugano.
- The ancient name of Lake Lugano.
- In the book the Ceresio is always called simply «the lake»: in the valley the word needs no further specification. Like the word «home»: it is that one, no other.
- Risorgimento · Risorgimento ((sin. rinascita, unificazione))
- Il movimento politico e culturale che, fra il 1815 e il 1861, portò all'unità e all'indipendenza dell'Italia.
- The political and cultural movement (1815–1861) that led to Italian unification.
- The novel is set in the years immediately before the Second War of Independence (1859). Franco is a patriot, the marchesa is pro-Austrian: and the political quarrel is layered on top of the family one.
- Valsolda · Valsolda ((sin. valle, distretto))
- Piccola valle in provincia di Como, sulla riva orientale del Lago di Lugano, ai confini con la Svizzera. È la terra d'origine di Fogazzaro.
- Small valley in Como province, on the eastern shore of Lake Lugano, along the Swiss border. Fogazzaro's own country.
- The Valsolda in this novel is not a backdrop, it is a character. The villages (Oria, Albogasio, Cressogno, Casarico) have an exact geography, and Fogazzaro counts the distances between them in minutes of rowing. It is a small world, and an old one.
- angoscia · anguish ((sin. inquietudine, affanno))
- Un'inquietudine profonda, con un fondo di paura, per qualcosa che si sente ma non si sa nominare.
- A deep unease, tinged with fear, of something one senses but cannot name.
- For pages and pages before the tragedy, Franco feels an anguish he cannot explain. Fogazzaro will not let him say why: because the reader is not to know yet, either.
- austriaco · Austrian ((sin. imperiale, asburgico))
- Del regno austriaco che, all'epoca del romanzo, occupava il Lombardo-Veneto.
- Of the Habsburg empire, which at the time of the novel occupied Lombardy-Venetia.
- The Valsolda is divided: part borders on free Switzerland, part is Austrian. The Austrian police are there, the censorship too. Fogazzaro rarely shows them: but the air of the book is always heavy with them.
- bigotteria · religious hypocrisy ((sin. falsa devozione, ipocrisia religiosa))
- La religiosità ridotta a forma esteriore, fatta di gesti, di scandalo per le piccole cose e di indifferenza per la carità vera.
- Religion reduced to outward gestures, alert to small scandals, blind to real charity.
- The marchesa and her friends are the very portrait of bigotry: they count the signs of the cross, and never see the hunger of their own kin. Fogazzaro, a Catholic himself, draws them severely.
The glossary contains 59 entries in all
Inside this reader
CEFR adaptation
The text is fully rewritten for level C1, with controlled vocabulary and syntax, while staying faithful to the original plot.
Footnotes and glossary
Footnotes on difficult words and a final glossary, so you can read independently without a dictionary.
Comprehension questions
Every chapter ends with questions to check understanding, just like in class.
Paperback and ebook
6×9 paperback on cream paper, or Kindle ebook. The same text also lives in the ti app.
Language focus: what you practise
In this level-C1 edition you mainly practise the passato remoto, gerunds and participles, literary vocabulary, shades of register and rhetorical figures. The vocabulary revolves around faith, nature and feelings: the key words, with translations, are in the glossary below and recur throughout the text, so you learn them in context.
About the author: Antonio Fogazzaro
Antonio Fogazzaro (1842–1911), from Vicenza, spent his life exploring the conflict between religious faith and modern thought. Piccolo mondo antico, his masterpiece, was born partly of an autobiographical grief.
Details and difficulty level
C1 stays close to the original language: structure and style remain near the author's text, with footnotes and a glossary for literary vocabulary. This reader suits advanced students, teachers and lovers of Italian literature. Format: 6×9 paperback on cream paper or Kindle ebook; 20 chapters with footnotes, a final glossary and comprehension questions. Paperback ISBN: 9798187981373. All level C1 books →︎
Essential glossary (Italian · English · Dutch)
| Italian | English | Dutch |
|---|---|---|
| il lago | lake | het meer |
| la fede | faith | het geloof |
| la ragione | reason | de rede |
| la nonna | grandmother | de grootmoeder |
| l'eredità | inheritance | de erfenis |
| il patriota | patriot | de patriot |
| il dolore | grief | het verdriet |
| la barca | boat | de boot |
Frequently asked questions
What level of Italian do I need to read Piccolo mondo antico?
This edition of Piccolo mondo antico is rewritten for CEFR level C1. C1 stays close to the original language: structure and style remain near the author's text, with footnotes and a glossary for literary vocabulary. This reader suits advanced students, teachers and lovers of Italian literature.
Is this Antonio Fogazzaro's original text?
No, it is an adaptation: the plot and spirit of Antonio Fogazzaro's original remain, but vocabulary and syntax are rewritten for level C1, with footnotes, a final glossary and comprehension questions at the end of every chapter.
Which formats is it available in?
Paperback (6×9, cream paper) and Kindle ebook on Amazon. The ebook is $4.99. The same text also lives in the 
amo Italian app, with vocabulary translated into 17 languages.
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Piccolo mondo antico also lives inside the ti app, with tap-to-translate vocabulary in 17 languages and animated scenes. On the site you'll also find 700+ free Italian exercises and the blog for Italian learners.
